But it's not just about shouting slogans that success can be achieved. There have been many slogans about the development of the Yangtze River Delta. In recent years, She Zhixiang | Conference | Yangtze River Delta

Time seems to treat She Zhixiang particularly well. As she enters her 90th year of life, She Zhixiang has a strong physique, clear thinking, and still maintains a stable working state. Except for weekends, he works in the office for five or six hours almost every day. Last month, he participated in a volunteer teaching activity in Pingliang, Gansu. He stayed in a small hotel priced at 90 yuan per day and made his own PPT to teach elementary school students in three villages; In a few days, he will go to Dalian to attend an academic conference. On his mobile phone, he is proficient in operating ticket booking software to purchase round-trip tickets for himself. As he has been retired for many years, some of the expenses will be borne by him. People around him praised him, saying that he looked twenty or thirty years younger than his actual age. But She Zhixiang waved his hand and smiled, saying that his black hair had been dyed and his teeth were fake. Regarding truth and falsehood, She Zhixiang has the rigorous judgment of scientists. In 2019, he went to Pingliang, Gansu to investigate rural revitalization. The local government received him and arranged his itinerary, but he still chose to follow the teaching support team twice afterwards. "It's not troublesome to receive him locally. I want to visit the village myself and chat with the village director and farmers.". This is She Zhixiang's consistent work style. After graduating from the Department of Geography of Nanjing University in 1956, he entered the Institute of Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, focusing on the distribution of agricultural resources and productivity. He often went on a business trip for more than half a year. At that time, the conditions were difficult, and he and his colleagues had to carry their luggage on the big truck, which trained him to quickly lay the foundation. In the 1970s and 1980s, She Zhixiang discovered significant differences in yield per mu in different rural areas during his research in Suzhou. In order to understand the background of agricultural production, he organized forces to conduct detailed land surveys, clarified the reasons, and promoted the detailed investigation of agricultural land resources in Jiangsu Province. After participating in research on the Shanghai Economic Zone, She Zhixiang once again focused on the Yangtze River Delta and the Yangtze River Economic Belt, experiencing firsthand the changes of the Yangtze River Delta over the years. She Zhixiang's office is filled with all kinds of books, but they are neatly arranged. When it comes to key issues, he gets up and searches through the bookshelf, always able to quickly find the papers and reports he wrote at the time. With the support of these materials, those vague past events gradually become complete and clear, and some development trends of the Yangtze River Delta also become apparent. "In recent years, many slogans have been put forward regarding the development of the Yangtze River Delta, but it is not just about shouting slogans to succeed, but about respecting objective laws and doing things one by one," said She Zhixiang, looking through information from many years ago.

Moganshan Conference

Nearly 40 years have passed, and She Zhixiang still remembers the strong smell of gunpowder at the Moganshan Conference. In July 1984, She Zhixiang was invited to participate in the the Taihu Lake Lake Governance Demonstration Meeting held in Mogan Mountain. The convener of the meeting was Wang Lin, who was then the director of the Planning Office of Shanghai Economic Zone. Qian Zhengying, then the minister of the Ministry of Water and Electricity, also attended the meeting. Previously, She Zhixiang had never attended such a meeting: at first, Wang Lin listened to reports from leaders and water conservancy department heads from Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang in a small conference room, and then everyone held a meeting together to exchange opinions and discuss. "This is to fully listen to the opinions of all parties and allow everyone to have an open discussion. If we report together at the same time, we may all be on guard," She Zhixiang explained the meaning of the meeting arrangement. In the 1970s and 1980s, the water conservancy contradiction of the Taihu Lake Lake was described as the "Goldbach conjecture". It is difficult to solve the contradiction. She Zhixiang had studied the economic geography and agricultural geography of the the Taihu Lake Lake area for a long time and was familiar with them. But when he arrived at the meeting, the conflict still exceeded his imagination. During the meeting, a water conservancy director added in his report, "Minister Qian also thinks the same way." He was immediately interrupted by Qian Zhengying, "Don't mention me, you can talk about your own situation.". The the Taihu Lake Lake Plain has a crisscross water network and a low terrain. Flood disasters often occur due to typhoon and plum rain. When she participated in the research on water and soil resources of the Taihu Lake Lake, she Zhixiang noticed that: on the one hand, due to the lack of unified planning, in order to expand the area, the lake was blindly reclaimed for farmland, resulting in the reduction of the area of rivers and lakes; On the other hand, in the low-lying areas where the terrain used to be low, the drainage capacity has been greatly improved due to the reinforcement of embankments and the strengthening of electromechanical irrigation and drainage. Once floods occur, they will discharge water to the outside of embankments and rivers and lakes, causing a sharp increase in the water level of outer rivers and lakes, posing a serious threat to cities and transportation. This is an old problem, why hasn't it been solved yet? A major challenge lies in individual governance, and the responsibility for water management cannot be divided by administrative regions, resulting in constant conflicts at the boundaries. As early as 1959, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang attempted to agree on a unified water control plan, but it was ultimately abandoned due to administrative division. In the book "Long term Study on Water and Soil Resources and Agricultural Development in the the Taihu Lake Lake Basin" written in the 1980s, she Zhixiang's team predicted that the the Taihu Lake Lake Basin will be a relatively wet period in the next 10 years, and a flood season may occur before 1994, with precipitation close to the 1954 catastrophic flood, which is a problem worthy of attention. After the event, this prediction proved to be valuable. In 1991, a rare catastrophic flood occurred in the the Taihu Lake Lake basin, causing huge losses. The alarm bell has sounded, but at the Moganshan Conference, representatives from various provinces still blamed each other, talked about their own difficulties, and submitted plans to maximize their own interests. In the face of this situation, during the discussion, She Zhixiang proposed, "There must be a stable water conservancy environment and a common governance plan. Even the worst plan is better than no plan." The meeting lasted for a total of 8 days. In his later memoir "My Revolutionary Process", Wang Lin recorded the statements of all parties at the end of this meeting. Shen Zulun, the Dep

She Zhixiang participates in academic forums related to the Yangtze River Delta region

Shanghai Economic Zone

In the 1980s, the wave of reform was unstoppable. In the Yangtze River Delta, the cross regional establishment of the Shanghai Economic Zone has been approved, which has sparked lively regional economic discussions. Prior to the Moganshan Conference, She Zhixiang had participated in several theoretical discussions in the academic community regarding the Shanghai Economic Zone. At the meetings, it was unanimously agreed that it was necessary to establish the Shanghai Economic Zone and hoped to use it as an opportunity to drive regional development through a market economy. At a meeting held in Shanghai in 1986, She Zhixiang used a map of the Yangtze River Basin, which was specially drawn by colleagues in the map office, to explain in detail the relationship between the Shanghai Economic Zone and the Yangtze River Economic Belt, with a length of three to four meters and a width of one meter. At that time, the Shanghai Economic Zone Planning Office was located at the Yangtze Hotel on Hankou Road. "It's just near the Bund." When She Zhixiang visited for the first time, he saw that the entire floor of the hotel had been converted into an office area. Initially, the scope of the Shanghai Economic Zone included 10 cities including Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Nantong, Hangzhou, Jiaxing, Huzhou, Ningbo, and Shaoxing. At the relevant meetings, She Zhixiang could feel that the enthusiasm of various cities was high, and the attendees were usually the deputy governors in charge and department heads. Each department was also very serious in their work. When discussing together, all 10 cities expressed joy and felt that they could use this as an opportunity to cooperate with each other and face future development together. In the planning office, She Zhixiang noticed that the staff were all of high level and very old. This is mainly because of an opinion from the State Council: "Some department heads and deputy ministers around 60 years old, who are in good health and strong abilities, can be transferred to this job." At that time, She Zhixiang, who was in his early 50s, was still considered a "young person" among them. In this newly established institution, everyone gets along equally and the communication atmosphere is relaxed. It's not difficult to find Wang Lin, and the offices of each group leader can be easily accessed. At this time, the Shanghai Economic Zone is facing a series of problems and challenges. The staff of the Planning Office are willing to listen to the opinions of scientists and welcome the academic community to cooperate with them in exploring and investigating. "Everyone was like friends, very harmonious," She Zhixiang recalled. One of his colleagues was recommended to the "Planning Office," and Wang Lin asked him about the situation. She Zhixiang introduced that this person is capable and flexible in work, and is from Shanghai. Wang Lin smiled and said that Shanghai people are more flexible. But over time, the scope of the Shanghai Economic Zone expanded again and again, first from 10 cities to Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui, and then to Jiangxi and Fujian, almost becoming the "East China Bureau". She Zhixiang clearly felt that the enthusiasm of various cities was decreasing. By June 1988, the State Council had abolished the Shanghai Economic Zone Planning Office. "There are many practical factors involved in this expansion, among which the willingness of local administrative leaders is also crucial. However, the expansion of economic zones also lacks theoretical basis, which is unfavorable for the existence and development of economic zones." In an article titled "The Origin and Development of the Yangtze River Delta Economic Zone," She Zhixiang wrote. His actual feeling is that because the provincial level has directly participated, cities in the Yangtze River Delta actually feel that there is no room for development. She Zhixiang believes that this is the main reason for the decrease in enthusiasm for participating in cities.

She Zhixiang presented relevant information during an interview with reporters. Photo by Chen Shuyi

Economic zone or administrative zone

In 1988, the news of the revocation of the Shanghai Economic Zone came as a surprise to She Zhixiang. At that time, he was participating in part of the planning for the Shanghai Economic Zone. If completed, it would become the first plan in the Yangtze River Delta region. Unfortunately, even the text of this plan cannot be found now. Until 2009, She Zhixiang was still writing an article analyzing the substantive reason for the revocation of the Shanghai Economic Zone, which was that the conflict of interests between the economic and administrative regions was difficult to resolve in the absence of adjustments or innovative reforms in the economic system and operating mechanisms. In a large amount of coordination work in the Shanghai Economic Zone, She Zhixiang found that when regional interests are the same, it is easier to jointly promote the work. For example, coordination in energy, power construction, and transportation can easily make progress. But when it comes to local interests of administrative regions, some conflicts are difficult to resolve. For example, the problem of industrial homogeneity and redundant construction of large-scale infrastructure is the main problem in the Shanghai Economic Zone. To adjust the industrial structure, it is necessary to shut down certain enterprises, which will affect local fiscal revenue. At that time, experts proposed a new round of industrial allocation and urban division of labor based on the entire economic zone. But once such a topic is discussed at the joint meeting of provincial mayors in the economic zone, it will attract unanimous opposition and make it difficult to move forward. "The Shanghai Economic Zone Planning Office is often at the center of various local interest relationships, and the institutional mechanisms have not been changed. Relying on the Planning Office to coordinate the interests of several major provinces and cities is clearly inadequate," She Zhixiang concluded. However, even if the Shanghai Economic Zone is abolished, its effect is like a stone falling into the water, creating ripples one after another. In 1986, with the advocacy and support of the National Commission for Economic Reform, the Shanghai Economic Zone Planning Office, and the governments of Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, the Nanjing Regional Economic Coordination Committee was established, covering 18 cities including Nanjing, Hefei, and Nanchang. In 1990, the "Nanjing Regional Economic Joint Development Plan" undertaken by the She Zhixiang team was approved. In 1997, the team also wrote the "Nanjing Economic Region Cross Century Development and Regional Cooperation Plan". Afterwards, many cities in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River came to She Zhixiang to learn from her, hoping to form a similar regional economic cooperation mechanism in the local area. The academic community recognizes that the Nanjing Regional Economic Coordination Association is the predecessor of the Nanjing metropolitan area, laying the foundation for the subsequent development of the Nanjing metropolitan area. Now, flipping through these yellowed and crispy planning documents again, She Zhixiang is quite moved: "Some of our views on the study of economic geography in the region are consistent." He said that in the Shanghai Economic Zone, the focus of planning work includes energy, transportation, foreign trade, tourism, etc. In the planning of the Nanjing Economic Zone, these key points have been mentioned again. The planning principles set at that time were "leveraging advantages and mutual benefit; forming networks and strengthening cooperation; distinguishing priorities and driving projects; protecting the environment and achieving sustainable development", which still seem outdated today. Afterwards, She Zhixiang's research continued to focus on the Yangtze River Delta. In the 1990s, he presided over the preliminary research project of regional development of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, "Water and Soil Resources and Regional Development of the Yangtze River Delta". In 1999, he presided o